


Death of a King

by stargatefan_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-10-06 21:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10344846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargatefan_archivist/pseuds/stargatefan_archivist
Summary: The team loses a member through the wormhole...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

The Death Of A King

##  The Death Of A King

##### Written by Jenny   
Comments? Forward them to jennifmoore@hotmail.com 

As Sg-1 was fleeing from Apophis on X3P097, Daniel cried, “I’ll get to work on the gate!” Jack fired aimlessly at the approaching death-glider. Almost immediately, the gate leapt to life. Daniel shouted to Jack to run, and then the gate began to fluctuate at a rate of once every three seconds. Jack urged them to count carefully before going through, but in the hurry of the rapid fire, he thought Daniel had counted wrong. However, he seemed to make it into the wormhole successfully, and Jack quickly dismissed that as a good thing, and leapt through. 

When they got to the other side, he realised he was wrong when Sam asked him, “Is Daniel after you? He sure is taking a long time.” 

The wormhole disengaged, and Jack’s face took a trip for the worst. 

General Hammond boomed, “Where’s Jackson?” 

Teal’c responded, “I believe these belong to Dr. Jackson”, as he held up a pair of cracked, battered glasses. 

Back in the debriefing room, General Hammond found himself worriedly repeating himself. “Where’s Jackson?” 

Sam sighed, and she decided to take the short explanation, as only Daniel, who was the subject of the matter, would know what she would have been talking about, had he been there. 

“Well, sir, Colonel O’Neill has said that he thinks that Daniel miscounted, and went through the gate wrong.” 

Hammond’s eyebrows lowered into a frown, and then Sam realised he didn’t know what she was talking about. 

“Sir, we were being chased by Apophis. When Daniel tried to dial up, he got a mild electric shock, and then the gate started to fluctuate. We had to count, or we would have been toast. I think that Daniel miscounted, and stepped through when the gate fluctuated. Given that, there are three possibilities. He could either have been vaporised by the wormhole energy surge, but that is unlikely, because his glasses made it through, and being metal they would have been the first to go. Secondly, he could have been locked in the wormhole and become a part of it. That, by the way, is what happens when you slam off the iris. He can see us passing through the wormhole, but we can never see him. But, on the evidence of the glasses, that is extremely. They were attached to Daniel, and the metal ions are attracted to the wormhole’s negative ions. So, that’s out. Finally, and this is probably the correct one, Daniel could simply have gone back through the wormhole to X3P097, where he would most certainly be captured by Apophis. Daniel is alive. We have to go and rescue him.” 

Hammond looked at his shoes for a minute, and then said, “Hmm. Alright, SG-1, you may go through the gate and find Dr. Jackson. Teal’c, what will they do to him? He is an enemy of Apophis, after all.” 

Teal’c looked grave. “I doubt that he will be executed, unless he does something to offend Apophis while he is there. The last time we saw Bra’tac, he said that the go’a’uld had to be removed from the queen temporarily because it was having trouble. I think that he may have Dr. Jackson help him with it. If not, then he will be tortured to discover some secrets about earth. Apophis knows that Daniel is a member of SG-1, and because of his actions at Chu’lak when the Elders were choosing a host for Klo’rel, Daniel put himself at risk. There is not much time. The only consolation is that Apophis is not stupid. He will not allow a prize such as Daniel Jackson through his fingers, and therefore He will be allowed entrance to the Sarcophagus. We must return quickly, before he decides to place a larvae in Dr. Jackson.” 

Jack looked stunned, but then as they all thought about this new development, it seemed only natural. The go’a’uld could reach important information, and Daniel would be wiped out. 

“Alright, SG-1, you must hurry and rescue him. However, if you do not return in 48 hours, then we shall lock out your remote iris codes. Dismissed, you shall leave in twenty minutes. STAT.” 

The noise of stone grinding against stone made his ears screech. Daniel woke up suddenly, and tore the cloth from his face. He was in a Sarcophagus, and as the stone started to reclose over him, he suddenly leapt out, but collapsed as he realised that he wasn’t strong enough to hold himself up just yet. A strong voice rang out, and Daniel froze to the ground. 

“Well, if it isn’t the Tau’ri who lived on Abydos.” 

Daniel eyes widened, and he slowly turned around to the figure standing behind him. “Apophis!”, he managed. 

“Yes, it is I, Daniel.” 

Daniel said, “How did you know my name?” 

Apophis smiled and said, “Ammonet. She asked your wife.” 

Daniel’s eyes were filled with sudden contempt. “Where is she? I must see her!”, he demanded. 

A small figure rushed in to the room, and as she came closer, she cried, “Daniel!” 

“Sha’re!”, he gasped. 

Apophis said, “I suppose you want to know where the go’a’uld went. Well, she was not, how do you say, compatible? Yes, she was not compatible. We had to find another. The one we now want is on your planet, on your team.” 

“Sam!”, Daniel exploded. “She’s much to strong to have a go’a’uld in her.” 

Apophis smiled, and said, “That is where you are wrong, Daniel. She was once briefly possessed by a go’a’uld named-” “Jolinar!”, Daniel finished. 

Apophis slowly nodded, and looked satisfied. “But we cannot do it right now. She is not here, as you can plainly see. We had hoped that she would be the one to come back through the gate, but no matter. They will come and rescue you. Then you will lead her up to the hall where the go’a’uld will be put in her. You were right in part, though. She is strong, almost too strong. The relationship she will have with the go’a’uld would be similar to the host/larvae relationship of the To’kra. She will often be able to communicate herself. You must be there to mediate.” 

Daniel muttered, “Never! I will not do it! Get someone else! I won’t do it!” 

Apophis simply smiled and said, “I thought you might refuse, so I had a mask made of your face while you were asleep. Look.” 

A man walked into the room, and he was almost a perfect likeness of Daniel. Daniel gaped. The man shifted uncomfortably in his place, and Daniel looked at him strangely. He doesn’t like this, he thought. 

Apophis said, “The other members of your team, including the traitor Teal’c, will be killed.” And he smiled as the wormhole sound, carried by the wind, drifted into the complex. “You will accompany me to the gate. Then we will switch you two, and my assistant here will force Samantha to be my new bride. But before I kill the others, I will retrieve their military strategies. Ha! Come!” 

Daniel sighed, and got up, after Apophis had left. He looked around, and wondered where his glasses were, but then remembered that he’d seen them on the assistant. 

Sam looked around, and sighed. The heat was incredible, but they were prepared for it. She felt like crying. There were evident signs of a staff weapon attack, and they had found a ripped piece of cloth bearing the SG-1 symbol, and a jacket bearing the name ‘Daniel Jackson, Cheyenne Mountain Complex’, followed by a series of code numbers. Jack was stoic, but in his eyes she could see the dejected look that was close to tears. Even Teal’c’s normally unflappable composure had long faded into an unknown expression. Suddenly, with almost excitement in his voice, Teal’c cried, “It’s Dr. Jackson! And he’s . . . uh-oh” He was cut off at the sight of Apophis rising over the hill behind a tired Daniel, flanked by worshippers. 

“You were right, Sam,” Jack said. “He has been in the Sarcophagus. Look at the burn mark on his suit. Be on your guard, everyone, and at the first sign of it looking like you can get him out of there, tell me.” 

“I do want peace. I have been wanting to do this for some time. I think that my tried and tested measures of actually just killing the races I want to take over are wrong. I will not make the same mistakes again. There will be peace in the universe again after the death of Ra!” Apophis said triumphantly. 

Jack looked at Daniel. He had not said a word during the entire speech. Apophis had reached them over ten minutes ago, and Daniel had not uttered one word. Daniel stared back at Jack, then blinked three times in succession, indicating that Apophis was lying, but Jack had already guessed that. He blinked twice at Daniel, indicating that he understood, and Daniel lowered his head as Apophis asked him, “Daniel. Is it not true that I have treated you well? You were injured from the malfunction of the gate. You must convince your Doubting Thomas friends.” 

Daniel nodded silently without even looking up. Sam stole a quick look at him, and realised she still had his glasses in her pocket. She reached in for them, but Apophis asked them to come with him now. He told them that they would eat, and that was good, she was really hungry. She looked again at Daniel. He was muttering to himself, and shaking his head, She moved towards him. She heard him say, “It’s a trap, and I’m leading them into it. I’ll tell Sam when we eat.” She was about to say something, when she noticed Apophis was glaring at him. He must have heard him, she thought. What trap? Daniel will explain at dinner, I’m sure. 

“He wants you to tell him what guerrilla tactics are”, Daniel said at dinner. “It may sound like basic knowledge, I don’t know that much about it myself. I’m not military, and you know it. He was lying about being the sole guardian of peace in the known universe. Really, he wants to kill you, Jack and Teal’c, but he’ll get as much information as he can off you first. Then, from me, he’ll find out how much we know about the go’a’uld, and our weapons. He’s going to kill us all, and there is no way out.” 

Jack looked at him strangely, Sam’s face was unreadable, and Teal’c’s eyebrow set a new height record. Daniel was the last one in the group who would give up so easily. Hell, Jack thought, he’d been searching fruitlessly for his wife for two years, and, to quote the General, if there was a snowball’s chance in hell that she would be alive, then that was all that he needed. Jack began to suspect Apophis, especially as Daniel hadn’t been wearing his glasses at the gate, but he was now, and he knew that Sam still held them in her pocket, he could see them sticking up. Something was up. Something big. We are about to have a very bad day, Jack thought solemnly. 

Tell me about it, Sam was thinking. She knew that was Jack was thinking, it was written all over his face. 

Apophis strode into the room, and he was bursting with pride. “I trust that Dr. Jackson had told you about the true situation, hmm? I must say, you, umm, fell for it hook, line, and sinker. You were fools to trust yout enemy, and now you will suffer. I have decided that you will all die, knowing the suffering you will have caused D. Jackson.” 

Daniel looked up sharply. 

“What?” “Do you really think that I was going to let a prize like that just walk away?” 

Despite the current situation, Jack couldn’t help but smirk at Daniel’s bright red face as he blushed with embarrassment. 

“I am not stupid. I know that you will not freely give away your information. You will tell me, or I will have Dr. Jackson tortured. Take him to the holding cell, his friends will join him later after they’ve eaten. He obviously doesn’t want his meal.” 

Three Jaffa swept him away, and Jack remembered the time when Daniel had first seen Sha’re with Ammonet. He remembered the ribbon device. He shut his eyes in anguish, and wondered why Sha’re hadn’t sat next to Daniel all throught the meal, instead she had sat next to Jack at the other end of the table. 

Later they were in a cell, and Daniel was on his own over in the corner. The other three were talking quietly, afraid that Daniel would hear. 

Jack spoke. “That’s not Daniel over there. It can’t be. Carter, open your pocket and tell me what you see.” 

She did so, and her eyes widened when she saw Daniel’s glasses in her hand. 

“But- isn’t Daniel wearing his- I see. That’s an imposter.” 

Jack nodded, and Teal’c concurred. Jack said, “And did you notice how Sh1’re sat at the complete opposite end of the table at dinner? That in itself was wierd, and the glasses, and the fact that he disappeared between when we came to the palace, and dinner. Somehow, the Staff weapon burn on his uniform had disappeared. Even the uniform looks wrong. I vote we expose him and ask him where the real Daniel is.” 

Everyone nodded. 

Teal’c walked over, picked up ‘Daniel’ and pushed him against the wall. Jack strolled up to him, and said, “Well, ‘Daniel’ we were just wondering how you got your glasses back when Sam has them in her hand.” 

The imposter’s eyes widened, and said, “Alright. I was going to tell you anyway, Dr. Jackson made me promise. My real name is Pal’Tru. I have been secretly leading movements against Apophis for years, but he has not suspected me. When your friend returned through the gate, he was accidentally shot. Apophis was displeased, and so he killed the guard, and then made a copy of Dr. Jackson’s clothes, glasses and face. He assumed that his glasses were simply lost in the wormhole. I was given the task of imposing as Jackson, but then I talked briefly with Jackson, and we, well, he, worked out a plan. He was injured gravely on the way in here, and so he is in the Sarcophagus at the moment. He suggested that when he was able to come out, in about an hour or so, that I tell you. Please, don’t hurt me, he trusted me, please, you trust me too?” 

Jack thought about it for a moment. Then he heard a noise outside, and he heard two guards outside saying, 

“Where is the servant, Pal’Tru! We must find, him, he is in league with the earth doctor, Jackson. “ 

"Okay! Look, whatever you do, don’t take off that mask. They are looking for you. I just heard them saying it.” 

An hour later, Pal’Tru had picked the lock, and they snuck out. The Sarcophagus room was unguarded, and they used this to their advantage. But, as soon as the Sarcophagus was opened, Jack spied a problem. 

“Uh, Pal’Tru? Where’s Daniel?”, said Jack, as Pal’Tru’s eyes opened wide. 

At that moment, Apophis, with his ribbon device charged, strode into the room, holding Daniel in the other hand. Daniel was virtually unconscious, but Apophis still held him up and cried, “So! My own personal servant, Pal’Tru, a leader of the rebels! Now, you will suffer, as you and the other three kill this one. You will know the guilt of the pain you inflicted on him first before death. If you do not, then I will kill him myself. Either way, he will die, and you along with him. And do it quickly, my wife and son’s hosts are gone missing.” 

Pal’Tru whispered to O’Neill, “That is because I removed the parasites and told Sha’re and Skaara to run to the Stargate. We must escape.” 

Jack looked at Daniel, and he noticed that for a split second, Daniel opened his eyes fully, and winked at Jack. Sam and Teal’c noticed it too. A second later, Daniel rammed his elbow Apophis’ stomach, causing him to wince in pain. When Apophis dropped him, then he punched him harder that Jack had ever seen anyone punch anyone else in the head, knocking him out. He looked at Daniel through one raised eyebrow, and Daniel smiled, and said, “Well........um.......let’s get going!” He smiled to himself, thinking that Teal’c’s eyebrow wasn’t even nearly as high as Jack’s was at that moment. 

Fifteen minutes later, they were nearing the Stargate. From there, Jack could see Skaara and Sha’re. Daniel, though tired, seemed to speed up, and Jack found it hard to keep up with him. 

Apophis woke, and immediately he shouted, “He tricked me! Find them and kill them, but leave the one with the glasses for me. I will kill him myself! Send out the death gliders!” 

“You know, Daniel, I’d say that Apophis has woken up by now, and he’s gonna be pretty mad that you socked it to him. You go through the gate first.” By now they had reached the gate, and Skaara raced up to Jack, and Daniel limped to Sha’re. Daniel started the dial up procedure, but it was too late. The death gliders were there. They took several shots, and the last one hit Pal’Tru. 

Daniel cried out, “No! He saved all of our lives!” 

Teal’c picked him up, and said, “I will carry him through. Finish on the DHD, or we will all join him.” 

Daniel simply nodded, and placed his hand on the centre crystal. The familiar wave of energy surged outwards, then stabilised into the wormhole. Jack raced through, forgetting his order to Daniel. As it happened, Daniel was the last one through, and as he stood still on the dais, the five rings came down, and Apophis appeared before him. 

“You tricked me. You knocked me unconscious. Now I will kill you.” And he charged up the ribbon device, and held up to Daniel, who froze. Ten seconds, that was all he would need to kill Daniel. As this was going on, one of the gliders that was circling overhead accidentally fired on the two of them, the blast hurling the two of them through the gate. 

On the other side, Apophis was still trying to kill Daniel, who suddenly went limp in his hands, weakened by the wormhole. Daniel feebly tried to push him off, and then all of the soldiers held up their guns. 

Apophis cried, “Stop! Or I will kill him!” 

General Hammond from the control room spoke into the speaker. “Apophis! I will allow you to return back through the gate to Chu’lak, but you must let Dr. Jackson go.” 

Apophis’ eyes glowed even further, and he said, “Then I will die.” And he held up the ribbon device against Daniel, but the guards were too fast. They carefully shot Apophis, missing Daniel. Daniel fell to the ground as Apophis died, letting him go. The doctors raced up the ramp. Daniel rubbed his neck, the pain went away. 

He whispered, “I’m fine. I can’t feel a thing. The effects have worn off. I’ll be fine.” They still dragged him out to the infirmary, followed by Sha’re. 

He checked out fine, but Janet still put him off duty for three weeks, and told him to go home. Sha’re had to remain on the base, however. He kissed her, and promised to come every day to visit. 

On his way out to his car, the guard said, “Have a nice day, sir.” 

Daniel smiled and nodded. He sat into his car and his eyes glowed very gently. Apophis’ voice said, “I will. Trust me, I will.........” 

It had been a week since SG-1 had rescued Daniel from Apophis' evil clutches. Daniel had insisted on giving him a proper ancient Egyptian burial, after all, the host was an ancient scribe and deserved compensation after the years of torture he had endured. No-one caught the glint in Daniel's eyes as he whispered, 

"You were a good host, but this one is better. Goodbye." 

Daniel was back on duty, after a full recovery. All his wounds had healed, a little too fast for Frasier, but he had done this sort of thing before, and so she had no qualms. Jack walked into the locker room, and caught him trying to get the gun out from the holster. Jack walked up to him and said, 

"Hey, Danny, guess you forgot how to open the clip, huh?" But as he moved towards him Daniel finally got it out and held it up at Jack, who looked confused for a second. 

"What did I do now, Danny-boy?" And his eyes opened wide as Daniel's eyes flashed, and he recognised Apophis speaking. 

"No, **Jack** it is not Daniel, but rather Apophis. You were fools. Did you not notice that the body you buried was without larvae? No, because this, _civilian_ as he calls himself, as well as Anthropologist, Egyptologist, Linguist and Doctor, was trusted by you. When he begged not to do an autopsy, you listened to him. You were fools! And I was right to choose this body! Now, at last, I will rule over the Tau're!" And he laughed evilly. But Jack ran, and pressed the alarm switch behind him. Within seconds the guards came in and asked what was happening. Jack quickly said that Daniel had a go'a'uld infection, and he was carted none-too-gently off to a holding cell. 

Later, General Hammond was in the cell with Apophis. He started to negotiate. 

"Apophis, I am-" 

"General Hammond, I know. This host has quite some knowledge in him. However, he is extremely defensive when it comes to information about this SGC. All I know is names." The General smiled, relieved that Daniel was still alive in some form or another. 

"Look, all I ask is that you allow me five minutes with the doctor. Please." Apophis thought for a moment, then decided, 

"Alright. But only a short time." And as his eyes glowed, Daniel shook his head slightly. He looked up questioningly at the General, and as he squinted, Hammond realised that he couldn't focus properly, he had no glasses." 

"Get him out of me. Get him out of me!" General Hammond tried to calm him down, as he was becoming very agitated. 

"Now, son-" 

"No! You don't understand! He's violent! He wants Sam as a queen! Get him out of me! I want you to operate on me like you did for Kawalsky. I know that he died on the table, technically, but they left a bit of it in him. That was its head. I was outside, and even I could see it! I don't care if I die, Jeez, I've done that enough times! I want you to do what you can, but GET HIM OUT OF ME. You think I like having the thing that took my wife away from me inside me, controlling me? I can consciously see and think, but I can't control myself." Everyone in the cell sat up straight and Jack said, 

"You mean you are awake all the time? Sam said that she had no idea of what was going on with Jolinar! Sort of 'the left hand not knowing what the right one was doing' thing." Daniel looked really sadly at Jack. 

"Goodbye Jack......" And his eyes glowed, and Jack knew that unless the operation went successfully, that was to be the last time he would ever speak to Daniel with Daniel as Daniel. 

Jack sat in his own room, collecting his thoughts. He still couldn't find himself coming to terms with the irony of Daniel being possessed with the very being that took his wife. _My God_ , he thought, _Sha're still didn't know about him_. She was in the guest quarters. Jack felt stranded. He couldn't let Apophis escape, but he couldn't let them operate on Daniel. Kawalsky had died then, and he couldn't let that happen to Daniel. The odd thing was that Kawalsky couldn't fight his goa'uld, which was only a juvenile, a small bit older that 'Junior', but Apophis was a fully grown goa'uld, and every so often, Jack's room being just down the hall from Apophis' holding cell, he could hear, just for a microsecond, Daniel's voice wafting down the hall as he fought for control of himself. 

_Jeez, maybe Daniel's stonger than everyone thought originally. Heck, he was fighting an adult goa'uld, the goa'uld, and yet Kawalsky, fully trained in anti-mindcontrol techniques, couldn't fight a baby one._ Jack almost smiled, Danny could be military material after all. He started to imagine Daniel in an Air Force uniform, smiling all the while. Then Sam came into the room. It had been a full day since they discovered Apophis. But he still refused to say when he had gone into Daniel. It was obvious that he had instantly become one with the host. 

Sam said, "Um, sir, the doctors are really hopeful. They think that because Daniel himself is talking every so often that he's a lot stronger than Kawalsky was. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but something to do with the fact that he was a baby one, and Apophis is an adult. I think that I know when he entered Daniel, and that would help. The doctors think that the longer he's been in Daniel, the less chance he has of surviving. Anytime after we got home is okay. I went and looked at the security tapes of when we had just come through the gate, and when Apophis was grappling with Daniel. I had to look at it frame by frame, and I found this, sir!" And she held up a picture. And there it was, plain as day. In between the two blurry figures, there was a long black snake-like thing. It was obviously the goa'uld. Sam was by now jumping up and down with excitement. 

"Sir! This means that there's a 35% chance that he'll survive the op! Isn't that great!" 

"Yeah. I've already talked to Frasier. She said that that's twice as good as Kawalsky's chances were. But even if he does survive, they said that he'll almost definetely have brain damage. We're fighting and losing battle, Carter." And he turned to leave, and Carter found herself all alone in Jack's room. 

Later, in the de-briefing room, SG-1, Maybourne, Daniel, General Hammond and several of the surgeons who had operated on Kawalsky were discussing the options. Everyone except Daniel himself and Teal'c was trying to talk over everyone else, trying to get their point across. But finally Hammond managed to calm them down. 

"Apophis, if we found a person to become your host, would you give us back our man?" Apophis smiled. 

"No. This host knows about the Asgaard, about the Ancients, about the Stargate. He is very strong. But he has by now given up all hope. I do not care if I die in him, my son Klorel will reign instead. I will live out my days knowing the suffering I have put him through, and the pain of you seeing him like this." Jack's mind raced. "He doesn't know that we rescued Skaara, he must have been through the gate before Apophis caught up with us." he thought. General Hammond must have thought it too, because he motioned for his aide. Jack heard him whisper about Skaara and Sha're, and the aide left quickly to find them. 

"What are you doing? There is no need to negotiate any more. I will die happy, and you will suffer." Just then, Skaara and Sha're walked in. 

"Dan-iel?" 

"Ammonet?" 

"Dan-yer?" 

"Klorel?" 

"Uh, Apophis, this is-" 

"I know who they are! My wife and my son! What have you done to them?!" 

"Well," Jack started, "-the host, minus Ammonet, is Sha're, Daniel's wife. The other host, minus Klorel, is her brother, Daniel's brother in law. You see, when we first unburied the Stargate, we had no device to operate it. So the woman who dug it up called in Daniel. He found out how to work it, sort of, and he and I went through it to Abydos. There we blew up Ra, 'cos he wanted to kill Daniel too, popular guy, our Daniel, and Sha're became his wife. We came back through the Stargate, but Daniel stayed behind for a year. So everyone on Abydos knows Daniel. And here's another kicker. You know the way Heru'er took your son? Well, he didn't. Daniel did. And he gave him back to Sha're's father." 

All through this, Apophis had become redder and redder. But now he stood up, literally pulled open the handcuffs holding him, and stormed out of the room. Sam was the first to recover. She stormed after him, but the announcement came and pretty soon every soldier in the base was throwing themselves at him. But he shirked them off as if they were meager flies. She suddenly realised with a shock that Daniel, no, not Daniel, Apophis, was headed for the gate room. He first headed into the control room. He took one look at the computer, and he thought briefly. Daniel put up a huge fight, but Apophis was too powerful. He used Daniel's keycodes to activate the gate using the computer. Sam had expected that, and she was waiting by the gate for him. He, in an unexpected move, grabbed the front of her shirt and dragged her through the gate. Jack had reached the control room, and it was pretty obvious where they had gone. He knew the symbols by heart. They were going to Abydos. Someone wanted his son back. 

When they arrived at the other side, they strangely arrived there. The gate wasn't buried at all, but instead standing as proud and tall as ever. Daniel's friend Kaycee was waiting for them at the gate. She looked at him, as if she could tell that something was wrong. Her suspicians were confirmed when Daniel's eyes glowed bright and Apophis smiled. The boys guarding the gate raised their guns, but none of them fired. They knew, somehow, that Daniel was still in there. He was there, it was Apophis was in him. Some of them recognised the voice. 

"I want my son!" Apophis raged. He hurled Sam at the nearest wall, hard enough to sufficiantly knock her out for several hours. Then he walked up to Kaycee, who stood her ground, and said, 

"I know you are in there, Dan-iel. Please, come out and defeat this monster." But he hit her, and soon after she fell, a crimson red mixed in with her black hair. 

Nothing stood in his way. He found an old death glider in the upper chambers of the pyramid. He opened it, intending to use it to go to the village. But he shook his head as he was about to get in. He spoke out loud, even though there was no-one in the room. 

"You are beaten, Tau're! You are growing weaker with each fight. If you want to stay conscious of your surroundings, then you will give up this useless struggle." But he knew that his host was in fact growing stronger, an experience he was not used to. He would have to leave him, and then get all his knowledge. He thought quietly to himself. He never regarded a lower as valuable, especially a Tau're, but he knew this one was. Was he going mad? 

Jack stepped through the gate, and he immediately rushed over to Kaycee. 

"Kaycee? Kaycee! Are you in there?" _Oops_ , he thought. _Very bad choice of words_. She stirred and said, 

"Daniel-not Daniel." She struggled to say it, and he brought her upstairs to the Sarcophagus left over from Ra. In a moment she was done, and she explained about Carter, who wandered into the room, dazed but unhurt. All present knew what the situation was. Daniel had no hope, Apophis was too powerful, strengthened by rage. Jack would have laughed at the irony of the situation, had it not been so terrible. Apophis in the body of his most hated enemy, and now he was searching for his son that his host had delivered into existence, and hidden it from him. 

Apophis was half-way to the village, and he was thinking the same thing. He would use Daniel's voice to take his child back, and raise him, and when the time was right, he would have a proper host. One who wouldn't struggle all the time. He reached the village, but stayed outside it to land, so that no-one would see him. He then hopped out, and walked towards it. Sha're's father spotted him, and rushed towards him. A small child toddled in tow. Apophis smiled just like Daniel would have, as he rushed up to him. 

"Dan-iel! You have returned!" Daniel, inside in the part of his mind he could call his own, cringed. He knew Apophis was going to use his own voice against him. 

"Yes, I have found Sha're. She is on Earth. But she will not come through the gate, and you are too old to come. She wishes only to find her son, and me to take him back to her." 

"Yes! Take him immediately!" 

"Thank you. I cannot stay, I must leave for Earth." 

"This is Dan'il. He is named Dan'il because it is close to your name, for you saved him." And he reached behind him, and picked up the toddler, who giggled. But when he put him near Apophis' waiting arms, he cried very hard. Sha're's father frowned. He looked at Daniel, who was staring at Dan'il. He took a start when he caught the glint in Daniel's eyes, but he wisely didn't let him know he saw it. He knew now that giving Dan'il to him would be a mistake. But he was too late. Apophis looked up, and read the fear in his eyes, and guessed that he knew. He pulled out a gun on him, and fired twice, killing him instantly. He grabbed the screaming child, and ran for the death glider. But SG-1 were there, waiting for him. Daniel fought harder than ever, and he took control for a second. He dropped Dan'il, and shouted at him to go to Sam, screaming at her telling her who Dan'il was. Then he was gone, and his eyes flashed. Jack looked sad. Daniel was fighting and losing battle. Apophis held up a ribbon device which materialized from nowhere, and he shot a wave at the four of them, knocking them out. He walked up to them, took up Daniel's gun again, and shot Teal'c and Jack in the leg, which would slowly lead them to bleed to death. 

"Now, at long last, you will suffer for your treachory, Jaffa." He picked up Dan'il and Sam, and placed them gingerly into the death glider. He sat in himself, and closed down the lid, and said to himself, 

"Finally, my queen can return." And he took off. 

Two hours later, Jack woke up to an explosion of pain, and he saw Teal'c was standing over him. He looked down to where the pain was coming from, and saw the blood covering his leg. 

Teal'c said,"I do not believe you will die, O'Neill. I think that after Apophis hit us with the ribbon device, he shot the two of us, hoping that no-one would dicover us, or that we would not wake up. Daniel Jackson had some control over that, because Apophis would not take such chances. If he wanted us dead, he would shot us many times in the head or at the heart, killing us instantly. But Daniel Jackson must have clouded his mind, stopping him from thinking clearly about what he was doing. There is hope. I have a plan, but first we must go back to Earth, for if you do not receive medical attention, you will surely die. My goa'uld has already healed me out of the point of danger. Apophis has also kidnapped Dan'il, and Captain Carter. I know how to rescue them. Let us go." 

And he picked up Jack effortlessly, who feebly tried to wave him off. Teal'c carried him across the desert, and when he reached the gate at last in the pyramid, let him down, dialled up the gate, put through the iris codes, and picked up Jack again, now passed out from the pain. He walked through. 

On the other side, a medic was immediately called, and Jack was shipped off to the university hospital, along with Dr. Frasier. He was operated on, the bullet was removed, and he quickly recovered. 

Once back at the base, Teal'c and he went to their de-briefing, and related their story about Carter and Dan'il, Apophis' son by Sha're. Sha're, who was in the room, cried through the whole de-briefing. Daniel was gone, and now so was Dan'il. And her father was dead. Skaara was the only family she had left. She cried on his shoulder, and left. 

"Sir, I think that Teal'c has a plan." 

"Teal'c?" 

"General Hammond. Apophis has no doubt gone to Chulak. His home is there. He will place Ammonet in Captain Carter, and together they will raise Dan'il until he is old enough to replace Daniel as his host. But he will not have Ammonet go into Captain Carter until the three moons are together in the sky. This happens every time here you have a new moon, and so this will not happen for five days. But we must act before then. Once we get to the Chulak, we must kill Daniel Jackson, forcing Apophis out of him. We then destroy what is left of the goa'uld, and place Daniel into the Sarcophagus. That will revive him. Then we go." General Hammond sat pondering over the plan fo a moment, and then nodded. 

Jack stood on the ramp as the gate dialled up. When the energy surge stabilised into the familiar wormhole, he, Teal'c and a group of Marines stepped through. 

When they arrived at the other side, he imediately started issuing orders. 

"Marines! You will stay here. It will be easier for just me and Teal'c to sneak in. I will call for help should we need it. We'll contact you every half-hour. If radio contact is broken, then you are not, repeat, not to come after us. You'll go back through the gate, and erase our iris codes, seeing as Daniel knows 'em, and Apophis can get 'em. Understood?" A chorus of "Yes, Sir!" went up, and he and Teal'c left for the palace. 

In the palace, Daniel had been alowed to speak to Sam, explaining what was going on. 

"Sam, he wants to put Ammonet in you. She hated Sha're, and so he promised her that you would be her new host. I knew, but I never got a chance to tell anyone. Teal'c probably has figured it out by now. But Apophis can't put her in you until the three moons align, in five days time. He told me that. Then, a ritual is held and it will go into you. That's it, I think, umm...." And as he was thinking what to say, his eyes glowed, and Apophis took over once again. He ordered the nearest Jaffa to take her away, and then he left to go to his room. He changed out of Daniel's uniform, and lay down on the bed, falling asleep instantly. 

Jack and Teal'c were now in the palace. 

"Teal'c, will we go to Bra'tac?" 

"No, because he was serving Klo'rel. After we disgraced him by escaping the mother ship and thwarting his plans to take over the world, Apophis sent him into temporary exile. When the goa'uld was born from the goddess Hathor, Bra'tac was immediately assigned as his teacher and guard. He will be nowhere. I do not think that he would be able to help us much, even if he was here. After Klo'rel came back, before he was sent away he would have told Apophis of Bra'tak's treachery. If Apophis believed him, Bra'tak would be sentenced to death. If he believed him, he would still try to be safe, and demote him. Apophis does not like to take chances. But, of course, after we rescued Skaara, Apophis will have seen Bra'tak to be failing his post, and he will be sent into exile." 

"Okay, Teal'c, you're right. We'd better get going. The faster we get this over the better. Daniel'll have enough trouble getting over this as it is. I don't think that the Government can pay for more psychiatry sessions than he's going to need now. Hell, it took Sam over a hundred hours at $80 an hour to get her right. And she only had Jolinar in her for a couple of hours. She nearly died, but we've got a Sarcophagus here. Come on, let's move." They reached the dining room where they first entered when they came looking for Sha're and Skaara just after they had been taken by Apophis. Now Jack was there looking for Daniel and Sam because they had been taken by Apophis. He sighed at the irony. Teal'c raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. 

An hour later, they were nearing the room that Sam was in. She was pacing the room so hard, there were friction burn marks on the floor. 

"Carter! Give the floor a break! The A.S.P.C.F. will be after you!" 

"A.S.P.C.F., Jack?" 

"American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Floors, Captain." 

"Ha ha. We have to get Daniel! He's in the room two floors up. I heard several Jaffa saying they were going up there to guard 'their Lord'. And he's getting weaker. Daniel's losing." 

"I know, Carter, we have to get him now." They undid the ropes binding her. She rubbed her wrists together, trying to get some feeling back into her numb hands. It was then that Jack realised how cold it was. He offered his jacket, but she refused, after all, she was military too. She'd be fine. Teal'c's eyebrow went even higher in amazement (or should that be amusement?). 

"You are weak, Tau're. You will not win. You may struggle now, but not for long. You may be very strong, much stronger than any of my other hosts, but I will win. I am Apophis!" But Daniel ignored his pompousness, and continued struggling. He knew it was only a matter of time before Jack would come. But too late he realised that Apophis could see what he was thinking. 

"You fooled me! You clouded my thoughts! They will heal! You will suffer!" And he stood over to the Jaffa nearest to him. 

"Jaffa! You will shoot me with a Zatnicatel! after a time, you will put me in that Sarcophagus." Then he went dormant, and Daniel realised that he was going to torture him. The guard shot at him, and pain exploded in him. But a shot rang out, and the guard collapsed. Jack stepped out of the shadows followed by Sam and Teal'c. Apophis re-awoke. 

"Tau're! You will die! Do not fire, you will only kill Daniel Jackson." But Jack ignored him and shot a whole round at him. Daniel faintly said, 

"Thanks, Jack." And his knees buckled, and he fell forward. But Jack stood back, waiting for the goa'uld to crawl out, but it never happened. He could hear squeaking, but no parasite appeared. Carter rushed over." 

"Daniel's dead, Jack, but one of the shots is restricting the goa'uld! It can't get out! If we put him into the Sarcophagus over there like this, Apophis will still be in him!" Jack flicked his eyes upwards, then walked over. 

"Don't give me any crap about this, Carter. I know how un-surgical this is, but frankly, I don't care, because Daniel is dead already." And he reached down and put his hand into Daniel's neck where the parasite was sticking its head out. He crushed the head, killing it, and then he pushed the bullet out of the way. He gave one hard yank, and Apophis was finally gone from Daniel. He stood on it, and twisted his ankle, completely squashing it. He then picked up Daniel, put him the Sarcophagus, and pressed the button. As the lid closed over his friends head, he whispered, 

"You're gonna be fine, Danny. I promise." And the lid slammed shut with a hiss. 

It was an hour later, and they were still waiting for the Sarcophagus to open. Then, breaking the unbearable silence, the Sarcophagus started clicking. Everyone turned quickly, and then with a puff of smoke, the hum from the Sarcophagus stopped. The lid opened a crack, and then stopped. Daniel was stuck inside, and he was still unconscious. Jack screamed to Teal'c, 

"Get him out of there!!!" Teal'c, in a burst of almost superhuman strength, yanked open the lid doors, and Jack and Sam carefully lifted Daniel out. 

"He's not breathing, sir! I doubt it that the Sarcophagus was finished!" Jack panicked momentarily, but before he started babbling wildly like a headless chicken, he gathered himself and started barking orders. 

"Teal'c! Radio the Marines and tell them to come here! We can't get him out without back-up! Carter! Start mouth-to-mouth, and I'll start compression!" She nodded, and started counting. Jack bent over and started. He whispered, 

"Don't die now Daniel. We're so close! We can't let you come this far and then die! He's gone! We won! Wake up, Daniel, please!" 

"Colonel O'Neill! The Marine in charge, Colonel Cleft, said they found the death glider where Daniel Jackson had crash landed it after he came through the gate. It seemed to be working, and three of them should be here in a few minutes." At that moment, Daniel's eyes fluttered open, and Jack could have cried for joy. He took in a gulp of air, and cried weakly, 

"Is he gone? Did we win, Jack?" Jack smiled 

"He's gone, Daniel. We won." He laughed as he realised he was repeating himself. At that moment, a death glider hovered outside the huge window. The glass lid opened, and a marine popped his head out. 

"Colonel O'Neill, sir! Is Dr. Jackson all right?" After seeing the optimistic frantic nodding from Jack and Sam, he continued, 

"I don't really know how to fly this thing! I can't land it! Can Teal'c take over so we can take the Dr. back?" 

"Meet you downstairs in five minutes, Captain!" With that, Jack and Sam supported Daniel down the stairs, as Teal'c raced to get to the glider. 

When they got to the end of the stairs, Daniel shrugged off Jack and Sam, but then he collapsed and they grabbed him again. Teal'c hopped into the glider, and, with the aid of Jack, Sam and the small Marine, hoisted Daniel into the death glider. Being a large one from Ra, it was actually a small room, and they all managed to squeeze in. 

Back on Earth, Daniel healed quite quickly, this time slowly enough not to catch the suspicians of Frasier. One day Jack was visiting at his apartment, when suddenly, in the middle of a sentance, he burst out, 

"Asgaard! Ancients! Child!" 

"What, Danny?" 

"A memory from Apophis! He says the Asgaard are going to send an Ancient to help us become the fifth race! A child! He found out about it, and he was to set out to kill her! She's our hope! We have to save her!" 

Daniel managed to break away from the Spanish Inquisition soon enough. He left leaving all of the members of the debriefing room who weren’t members of the SGC stunned to incredulity. Among them were his worst nightmares : Maybourne, Kennedy, Kinsey, and a few other people who shared the same point of view as they. Jack excused himself and ran out the door after him. He went to find him, and discovered, half an hour later, that he had left the base in a very bad mood. Jack knew where he’d go. He was drawn to the place. 

As soon as he walked through the huge archway of the Museum of Natural History, Jack headed straight for the Egyptology section. Sure enough, there was Daniel, back to the world, facing the Sarcophagus. He had discovered it after the run-in with Shyla, but for fear of his life, Jack had prevented him from ever telling the General it was there. He walked up to him, and said a simple, 

“Hey.” Daniel turned around, pure anger showing through. 

“I suppose you want to know what I was doing back there.” 

“No, I don’t, I know what you were doing, I would have done it a little different, that’s all. But the principle’s still there.” 

“What?” 

“Well, they think that that child could be a useful source of weaponry. A few years ago, I would have thought the same, cold and military-like. Guess you’ve imprinted on me, huh, Danny?”Daniel smiled. 

“Look, I know that they all think I’m a know-it-all who only has eyes for unuseful things like cultures long dead on earth and maybe they’re right. Dammit, I wasted a good load of my life learning all about it, I’m damned if I am going to pass this opportunity. And I’m also damned if I leave Maybourne take it away. Jeez, all this over a being we haven’t even met yet.” He stopped and thought about what he had just said, and grinned before saying, 

“Maybe we have been around each other too much.” Jack laughed, the ice was broken now. 

“Come on, let’s get back.” 

“Get back, get baack, get back to where you once belong-” 

“Alright, that’s a bit too much, Daniel. I like you when you’re your boring old self.” 

“Well, excuuuuuse me!” 

***** 

They made their way back, and it was just in time, too. As soon as Daniel got down to the control room, the room started to shudder as the gate began to activate. Hammond was about to give the ‘close the iris’ order, but he glanced at Daniel, who shot him a ‘don’t you dare, you twit’ look, and he ordered all available soldiers to get down there fast, just in case. Almost as soon as they arrived, the wormhole stabilised and many figures stepped out. Bad call. Horus guards quickly took out all the soldiers, and fired into the control room. Daniel ducked just in time. The blast hit one of the computer behind him, and caused it to short-circuit. They cleared out of the control room, up the stairs with Heru’Er following them quickly. Somehow, Daniel managed to make it up the stairs. He was first in line. Jack, along with Sam and Teal’c, was in the infirmary. They were laughing and telling a few tall tales to Frasier. They looked at Daniel, who yelled, 

“Let us in and barricade the door!” Only General Hammond and the small bespectacled technician had followed him, everyone else decided to go the other way. Unfortunately Heru’Er had decided to send two of his fifteen in all Horus guards aftre them, but himself had decided to follow the one he had seen before. The one called Daniel. The one he had seen on Abydos, who had decided to blame it on him that Apophis’ child had been taken. He had gone there with that intention, but hw came away empty handed, and he did not like being accused of anything he did not do. He would have his revenge on this Daniel. Soon. 

“There. That about oughta do it.” Jack finished with glee as all but one of the tables, gurneys, I.V. units, in fact everything in the infirmary, had been piled up in an impenetrable barricade on the door. It all started to rumble, but held. Heru’Er was trying to blast his way in, and he would not get in. General Hammond picked up the phone, and dialled the number for the guards on the surface. He told them in plain, simple terms what was going on, and ordered at least a thousand men to guard the entrance to the base, should Heru’Er get a mind about him and go up to the surface and attempt to take over the world, figuratively speaking. Jack sighed, he almost smiled at the irony of being trapped in their base. There was now Daniel, Sam, Jack, General Hammond, Teal’c, Dr. Fraiser and Gary, the technician. Seven people in the infirmary. 

***** 

After about an hour or two, Daniel had taken to pacing up and down a three metre stretch of floor. Sam watched him with morbid fascintation, remembering the last time that he had done that. After they had come back from Shyla’s planet, and he was under the influence of the sarcophagus. Suddenly he fell to the floor as a loud rumble shook the room. 

“I believe Heru’Er is attempting to enter the room more forcefully.” Jack looked at Teal’c, then stiffened as he thought where they got the firepower from, all they had was Staff Weapons, according to Daniel. Then he realised that there was a supply room just down the hall, and it was full of many, many grenades. He told General Hammond. While they sat there contemplating what to do, a small,frightened voice said, 

“Uh, Jack............” Jack looked at Daniel, who pointed, and moved backwards. The wall was beginning to cave in. A gurney fell off, and rolled past him. Teal’c said, 

“We may be able to fit through the grate up there, O’Neill.” Jack looked up, there was indeed a very large air vent up high near the ceiling. Jack stood up on the gurney near Daniel, and yanked it out. He motioned for them to start clambering through. Daniel started refusing flatly, and said, 

“What if that child comes through? It’s supposed to come through about now!” Jack glared at him, and turned back to his work. Hammond first, then Gary, then Dr. Frasier, then Sam, then Teal’c, and now Daniel. But Daniel still refused. Jack consoled him, saying that he could crawl towards the vents in the gate room. Daniel got up, and in, and then Jack got in, pausing to close up the vent. Not a moment too soon either, because just as he closed it up, the make-shift wall exploded in, and Heru’Er walked in carefully, and yelled out orders when they were out of sight. Daniel waited for Jack, and said, 

“He says the child isn’t here yet. He says kill anyone on sight. Woah, Jack! The grate!” Jack looked back, and saw the grate swinging. He yelled quietly, 

“Move!” Daniel scrambled in the direction of the gate room. A staff blast got him moving even faster. But by the time Jaffa had clambered up to look at the vent, they were out of sight. The Horus head was too big to fit in, and they gave up. 

***** 

After about three or four minutes of crawling, Jack cursed loudly as a loud rumble shook the base. They were nearing the gate room. They looked down to the room below, and saw the fourth chevron locked in. Daniel punched out the grate below, and ignored Jack’s warnings that it could be another goa’uld. He jumped down, just as the wormhole stabilised He fell onto the ramp, and looked up. He managed to stand up, even though he was sure he had broken his leg. A small figure stepped through, shrouded in a hooded cloak. The wormhole disappeared, and the figure moved down the ramp, to Daniel’s side. She took off the hood, revealing a girl of around fourteen or fifteen. 

“Do not assume, appearances can be deceiving. I am older than you are, Tau’ri. I am here to help you become the fifth race. But now you are hurt.” She held up her free hand, and held it over his shin. Daniel bit his lip from the pain, and then it was gone. 

“You are healed now. We must stop Heru’Er, he is here to stop me.” She twisted her finger round three times, and said, 

“For luck.” And then, a small section of the floor, directly underneath the grate that Daniel had broken down, rose up to the open hole, and she shouted, 

“You can come down now, Colonel O’Neill. I believe that Captain Carter and General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser and Teal’c and Gary Jones are all there too, so ye can all come down now, please, we must stop Heru’Er.” Daniel looked up, Jack’s head was sticking out, looking out one side of the grate. The two girls shared a side, Gary took another side, and General Hammond took the last one withTeal’c. One by one, they stepped onto the raised floor, not quite sure of themselves, and when they were all there, the girl winked at the platform, and it began to lower slowly. When it reached ground level, they stepped off, and shook the girls hand. She smiled in return to each of them. Daniel said, 

“Um, you said you were older than me, em, miss.........” 

“I do not have a name, Dr.” 

“Daniel.” 

“Daniel. I do not have a name. What is a common earth name, one that will not arouse suspician?” They all thought about that for a minute. Sam spoke. 

“How about Max?” When she received a look, she said, 

“Maxine. Short for Maxine.” Jack threw her another look, and said, 

“You’ve a thing for guys names, don’t you?” It was Sam’s turn to throw the look. The girl nodded. 

“Max. I like that. Max. Yes, that’ll be my name. Cool!” Everyone looked at each other. 

“Oh, in case your wondering, when we took out the information from your mind, Colonel, we, uh, took a little too much, but you still have that in there somewhere. So I already know a a lot about this planet, like the fact that you have several of our race held in stasis here............” Daniel looked at Jack, who suddenly found his shoes incredibly interesting. 

“Jack...........?” 

“Yeah, yeah, Area 51, Roswell, New Mexico, yeah, yeah, yeah, they’re there. But, they’re dead, not in um, stasis.” She shook her head, then moved on. Suddenly, she disappeared in front of their eyes. Then, while they looked around, they found themselves in the control room, with the doors locked. Seconds later, Heru’Er and all of his Horus guards were in the gate room. One by one, as if in a trance, they moved up the gate and through the gate. As soon as they were all gone, the wormhole disappeared, and Max returned. She looked upwards, pursed her lips tightly together, and then everyone in the base was in the positions they had been in before the attack. Except for SG-1, Dr. Frasier, Gary and General Hammond. But they all remembered the attack. Daniel looked at Max. She smiled, and he asked, 

“You said you were older.....?” She nodded, and said, 

“There must be more questions than that forming. Shall we go to a room where we can sit down and you will ask all of your questions, and I will ask all of mine?” Hammond nodded, and Gary and Frasier were sent back to work, and SG-1 was sent to the brief room, with instructions that the brief and de-brief would take place in twenty minutes. Daniel said he’d take her to a room first, so she could get settled. I she had anything with her, to leave it there, etc. They agreed, and left him go to one of the living quarters. 

Once there, she took off the long black cloak, and he was surprised to note that she had on pair of jeans, and a t-shirt! She said, 

“Well, we haven’t come through this gate in over fifteen thousand years! We didn’t know whether or not it would be out in the open, or not. So I had to synthisise something that would be accepted as normal on the planet!” He grinned, and after she had dispensed with the cloak on the hook of the door, they made their way down to the brief room. 

***** 

“Well, for what it’s worth, miss Max, welcome to the SGC.” General Hamond was saying. She noded her head once, and then Daniel started asking the questions. 

“So, Max, are you an Asgaard?” 

“No. Actually, I am a bit of an exclusive. I am the only living Ancient left. I am able to take on human form, so that I may wander your planet freely, and not cause any suspician. You may wonder why I am as a child, rather than an adult, well, I am a child, in true form. Our kind, along with three other races, used to meet in a castle thousnads of years ago. But the goa’uld found out about our normal home, and so we left a repositary of information should any race advance enough to decipher the language. We left it after our race was virtually destroyed by the goa’uld. A terrible plague was introduced by them, and All of our race was wiped out. But we knew that one day, another race may advance enough to actually join in our alliance against the goa’uld. So, as soon as I wasa born, which was exactly three days before the apocolypse, I was cryogenically frozen and given to the To’kra, who could be trusted, as they moved from place to place often to escape the goa’uld. Three hundred and fifty years ago, I was brought out of my sleep.” At this, everyone in the room took a breath. The effect was funny, and Max giggled slightly, but Jack frowned, so she stopped herself and went on. 

“I age one of your earth years in 25. My growth rate is much slower than yours. Three of your months ago, we tried to return to Heliopolis. But it was gone.” Daniel nodded understandingly. 

“We also had a repository of every piece of knowledge we ever knew, but the knowledge was taken. I believe it was by someone who poked their nose into a place they shouldn’t, hmmm?” she said suggestively, grinning straight at Jack, who suddenly became infatuated with the floor. She gave him a look when he finally looked up that said, ‘you dope’, then she started back. 

“Now all of out knowledge is gone from those banks. But there are many others. Ah, well.” Daniel was beginning to enoy this. He had gotten used to the fact that she copied their accents, they were all alike except for General Hammonds deep southern drawl, but thank god she didn’t copy that. He sighed. At least she knew a lot about Earth, rather than having to resort to watching the Discovery Channel like Teal’c. The Discovery Channel wasn’t always the Bible, and Daniel found himself in an uncomfortable position as he started to think about it and noticed that everyone was staring at him. He realised that Max had finished what she was saying and was waiting for him to say something else. He covered himself by asking a quetion without appearing embarrassed, and she went into a long-winded conversation about it, and he sagged into the further reaches of his chair. 

***** 

“So, in conclusion, Dr. Jackson, I believe that the girl should stay with you. It was either you or Colonel O’Neill, and he said he couldn’t, he was sorry, but for some reason he just couldn’t have a kid walking around the house again, as in living.” Daniel frowned slightly. He thought that all that was over with. 

“So, she must live with you in your apartment. I have the papers right here, she will be your adopted daughter, officially.” Daniel nodded, and went to collect Max from her little room. 

When he got there, she was holding a small rucksack with SGC splashed all over it. She was smiling. 

“Hi, ‘dad’. Look, can ask you a favour? Can I never call you dad when we’re on our own? It’s just that I had a father, and-” Daniel noted the ‘had a father’ past tense. 

“-I’d sort of prefer if, ya know, um,” 

“No problem.” She grinned up at him, and he said, 

“If you want to know, you’re the third alien creature who has taken up permanent residence here on Earth.” As they walked down the hall, she looked at him and questioned, 

“But, wait. There’s Teal’c, that’s one. And there’s me. Who’s the other one?” Daniel smiled. 

***** 

“Max, this is Cassie.” Daniel introduced. Both girls shyed away from each other, muttering a small ‘hi’. Daniel smiled, and said, 

“Come on, surely there’s something else in there?” But neither said anything to each other as he dropped Cassie and Max to his apartmanet. He showed Max her room, and then said, 

“Look, I’ve gotta go back to the base, but I’ll be back at around 7 o’clock. I’ll bring pizza, okay? And when I get back, you two’d better be talking to each other.” He walked out the door, and grinned to himself. 

After five minutes of silence, Max threw her hends in the air and said, 

“Um, what’s the name of your race, hmmm?” Cassie told her, and the minute she heard it, Max said, 

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I suppose, that’s something we’ve got in common. I’m the only one left of my race too.” For a moment, there was no speech between the two, and then, years of bottled up emotion surfaced and the two girls cried on each others shoulders, grieving for stolen childhoods. 

***** 

“Hey girls, I’m home! Max? Cassie?” Daniel walked into the apartment, struggling with McDonalds, and listened for a moment. Then he heard squeals of laughter erupting from the living room. He dumped the load in his hands onto the table behind the couch, and noted that the girls were watching Star Trek. He asked, 

“What’s so funny?” But then he laughed as he looked at the girls. They were spread out on the loor, a bowl of popcorn made between them, and they were pitching back and forth, laughing as hard as they could. They appeared to be in the middle of a discussion. 

“Well, I still think that Wesley Crusher is the cutest. But really, he could do with a change of wardrobe.” 

“Yeah, I suppose so. My god, it’s so funny, there’s no goa’ulds or anything, ha-ha, Klingons. What a feat of imagination.” And the two girls finally lost it and fell over, tears of laughter streaming out of their eyes. Daniel raised and eyebrow. Max spoke again. 

“Oh, hey Daniel. Want some popcorn? It’s really nice, but I wouldn’t go into the kitchen for a while. Oh good! You brought dinner. Oh, and it’s McDonalds. I won, Cas. Gimme a dollar.” Daniel looked at her. 

“A bet. To see where you’d go for dinner.” Cas reluctantly gave over the dollar. Daniel smiled, looked like they’d really taken his orders to heart. 

***** 

“Time to get up, girls.” 

“Go away, Daniel, it’s Saturday.” Daniel opened the door to find Max and Kassandra engrossed in some game. They were staring deeply into each others eyes, and for a moment he wondered what they were doing. Then Max giggled, and Cassie smiled, and said, 

“I won. Am I the champion or what?” Max admitted defeat. Daniel looked at his watch. 6.30 a.m. 

“What time did you two get up?” 

“Cas, what time was it?” 

“Erm, I think it was 4.30, no 4.00. Yeah, 4.00.” Daniel blinked. They were like three year olds. Up at the crack of dawn. Daniel looked at Max, she shrugged. 

“Look, Daniel, I know that you have to go in to the base today, and seeing as me and Cas are allowed into the base, hmmm?” He thought for a moment. 

“Alright, but don’t let General Hammond catch you near the gate. A little canister of plutonium from a bomb that was being stored somewhere went off yesterday, and the gate room is sealed off for a while.” They both nodded, and then proceeded as Daniel left to fight over who got the shower, and who got the bath. 

***** 

After the argument was over, and all were gleaming, they made their way to the base. Max and Kassandra went off to do something, and Daniel made his way down to his tiny, overstuffed office. He settled into his chair, and, with what was about to happen, he happily fell asleep. 

***** 

He was rather rudely awakened by the cold sensation of water on his face. He opened his eyes. Max and Kassandra were standing there, waiting for him to get up. He did so, and chased after them. They squealed with delight and ran out the door and down the hall. He bumped into Teal’c and yelled, 

“Catch ‘em! Quick, Teal’c!” So then Teal’c ran after them too. The chase continued until Max reached General Hammonds office. She peeped in the keyhole, and noticed that the door to the debriefing room was locked, and the blind was down over the window, indicating that a breifing or a de-briefing was in progress. They opened the door, and closed it again. But Kassandra was a little too slow, and Teal’c, ahead of Daniel, spotted the door close. By the time they got to the room, all was silent. Murmuring could be heard from the briefing room. Max and Cassie were nowhere in sight. 

“It’s hot in here!” Cassie whinged. Max put a finger to her mouth, and made a face. The cupboard was very cramped, and the door only just closed over the two of them. Max listened hard to the outside world. 

“I cannot see them, Daniel Jackson.” Cassie giggled. Suddenly, the doors of the cupboard were flung open, and Max and Cassie found themselves the victims of their own weapons. But then, the door to the office, left slightly ajar, was thrown open, and Daniel heard the authorative ‘system lord’ voice behind him. 

“Release the Ancient child!” It demanded. Teal’c stiffened, he recognised the voice too. Events flooded into Daniel’s mind. The gateroom. The goa’uld attack. Max. Their blank, obeying faces. They were not the goa’ulds. They had jumped hosts. He was hearing Heru’Er. He turned to the smirking face of the system lord, now in the host of one of the guards. 

“You! Jaffa! And you! The husband of Apophis’ queen! We will have pleasure in ‘dealing’ with you later! But for now, take the child, and follow me!” They complied. Thankfully, Heru’Er had not spotted Kassandra. As Max was dragged out of the room, she nodded in the direction of the telephone on the desk. Cassie immediately understood. And then they were gone. By the time Heru’Er had glanced back into the room, she was under the table, hidden from view. The door was closed and locked again, and Cassie was alone. 

After sitting in the dark for a few minutes recovering, she picked up the phone and dialled frantically. After a few seconds ringing, Major Samuels picked up. 

“Yes?” 

“Help! Max and Daniel and Teal’c, all gone! Goa’uld, got to tell-” 

“Who is this?” 

“Kassandra Frasier, mister.” The window was opened, and the door soon after. Sam came through, and found a Cassie in shock, the phone still in her hand. 

“What happened, Cassie?” 

“There was a goa’uld, I don’t know which one, and he took Max and Daniel and Teal’c, but he didn’t see me. He said he was going to rule you all, and he was going to kill Daniel and Max and Teal’c!!!!” Sam’s eyes widened. She quickly relayed the infromation to SG-3 and General Hammond and Jack, who were all in the room behind her. They leapt into action immediately, yelling instructions at different people, picking up phones, shouting orders. Cassie watched in fascination. 

***** 

Max woke up, not realising she had been asleep. Someone was shaking her. Daniel? Teal’c? Teal’c. She slowly opened her eyes. The ominous mass of the Jaffa was blurred. She guessed that it had either been a Zat gun shot, or someone had hit her over the head. Teal’c looked concerned. 

“Are you alright, Max?” She struggled to answer. 

“Yeah, Teal’c. What happened?” 

“We were taken down to the storage room number eleven.” She nodded quietly. It was the least used one, no-one would go down there for months, it only contained back-up supplies of stuff in easier to access storage rooms. She couldn’t remember past the General’s office. He went on. 

“Then, as we were about to go in the door, he fired using a Zatnicatel at you. Daniel Jackson protested, and he fired at him with a handgun. It hit him in his chest.” She looked concerned. 

“Where is he? I can’t see that well.” He pointed to the other side of the huge room. There was a small, green figure over there. Max realised that all she could see were vague colours and shapes. Now she could see that Daniel had his green uniform on. Teal’c, as always, had no jacket on, just a black t-shirt, so she distinguished the two by the black top. She couldn’t see that well, but even she could make out the red in front of Daniel, oozing steadily. A sudden pain shot through her legs. 

“What happened my legs, Teal’c. I can’t remember.” 

“After Heru’Er shot you with the Zatnicatel, and Daniel Jackson with the handgun, he remembered your healing capabilites. So he decided that he would have to prevent you from healing him. So he beat you with a rifle he found here, to prevent you from walking up to Daniel Jackson, and put him on the opposite side of the room. Then he left, and there is no-one here to guard us, although the door is heavily locked, and he took all of our keys, passcards, everything. I am sorry, I tried to resist.” Max could see shame on the big Jaffa’s face. 

“S’okay, Teal’c, you couldn’t have done anything more. S’fine.” He nodded in agreement, but it was plain he didn’t agree. 

“Heru’Er has a bit of a one-track mind. He’s not all that intelligent. Apparantly he didn’t stop to think that I could heal myself.” Teal’c smiled, and then so did Max, a look of accomplishment on her face. And it was an accomplishmen, she had gotten Teal’c to smile. She then closed her eyes, and put her hand over her leg. But there was a problem. Teal’c had failed to mention that Heru’Er had nicked her little healing device. She was a little cross. 

“Umm, Teal’c, where did he put my healing device?” Teal’c looked ta her with a raised eyebrow. She groaned. 

“It looks really, really like a ribbon device, except that the crystal in the centre is purple, not red. I can’t heal Daniel without it! Here, lift me up. I’ll talk to him if I can.” The jaffa nodded, and helped her to her feet. He picked her up with huge strength, and carried her over to the other side of the room, to where Daniel lay. 

“Daniel?” 

“Ma-x?” She breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t unconscious. Yet, she told herself. He was in pretty bad shape. Looked like the bullet was a bit hard on him. A bit, her mind laughed. He was almost definately going to die if she didn’t do something, quick. But she couldn’t. The fastest way was probably to get him down to the infirmary. Or possibly to piece together the healing device, if she could find it. Teal’c spoke. 

“What can we do?” Max relayed all of her recent ideas to him. He nodded. 

“Max?” 

“Yeah, Daniel?” 

“Still-still think that [cough, cough] Dr. Crusher is the [cough] best.” Max grinned ear-to-ear. Then she had a thought. 

“Teal’c, what happened to Kassandra?” 

***** 

“Where could they possibly have gone?” Jack was asking over and over again. Kassandra was there, looking sad that Max was missing. She had only known her for a day. Less than a day. But she had clicked with her. They had both been exploited. In different ways. Kassandra to destroy the Taur’ri, Max to save them. Cassie had no idea how she was supposed to do it, she had mentioned something about it, but she wasn’t clear. She looked at her watch, and for some very strange reason, she thought, ‘Darn, we’re going to miss the movie’. Then she chided herself for thinking that. She thought as hard as she could, and prayed to her gods that Max could hear her. 

***** 

Max also wished that Cassie could hear her, for she could read her thoughts. She could implant thoughts too, but Kassandra was much too far above her to feel anything. But she was sure that someone would find them. 

***** 

Sam was at her wits end. They had been trying for three hours on end to discover where it would be that the goa’uld, whoever he was, had taken Max and Daniel and Teal’c. Colonel O’Neill walked in to her rather large office. He laughed. 

“What is it, Colonel?” 

“Last time I was in any of the resident Dr.’s offices it was Daniels, and unfortunately he has the tiniest one on the base. But, you know, before he went to Abydos, when he figured out that the cartouche glyphs were starmaps, this was his office. But they downsized when I told everyone he was dead. Notice how he never said anything, he left you have it. Nice of him. Maybe he didn’t want to actually remember that. They made fun of him because it took them two years and they had translated it wrong.” 

“What exactly turned them off him?” 

“Um, I was just walking up, but they had been working for six weeks on this cover stone, trying to decipher it, and they were only just finished, and he came in and in twenty seconds, he had discovered what they had called a ‘Doorway To Heaven’, was actually a Stargate. They hated him because he made them look like fools. But hey, they were. Must admit, hated him myself then. Think I may still do, bloody walking accident.” And he grinned. But she could see that he was really worried. Just then, a small officer, a security guard, wandered in and said, 

“Um, Captain Carter? General hammond wants you in the debriefing room. He says that the goa’uld may have taken another officer, the head security officer of the gate room.” Sam nodded, and Jack and she walked out and downstairs. 

“We appear to have another missing person, Captain Carter, Colonel O’Neill. And it seems that Kassandra has been hearing things and seeing visions.” Sam shot Cassie a slightly confused look that said, ‘visions?’. She nodded silently. General Hammond spoke again. 

“Kassandra, would you like to tell us what is happening?” Cassie stood up, but she was still dwarfed by the huge table. 

“Um, see, Max can read minds. And she can implant thoughts too, kinda like a Halcyon. (see ‘Halcyon’, by Alba, at Heliopolis)” Jack nodded. he remembered their encounter with the mind reading bird. Another Daniel hater (a.k.a. Danny pounder), Jack thought wistfully. How many more could there be? Pretty soon he’s gonna have the entire universe on him. 

“And, um, she didn’t know it, but she does now, but even though she is too far away to do it properly, the, um, what’s that stuff in me again?” Frasier answered, 

“Naquada, honey.” 

“Yeah, that. Well, she thinks that it enhances it. She says that Teal’c thinks that they are in storage room number-” she paused while Max relayed the information. 

***** 

‘Eleven’, Max thought hard. Heru’Er had returned, with a ribbon device, and he was blasting her. She relayed the information before she was gone. 

***** 

Cassie screamed, and Sam went and held her. 

“What happened?” 

“Daniel got shot. Max - she’s dead. Ribbon Device. She’s dead! They’re in storage room number eleven. And it’s Heru’Er.” She started to cry, and Frasier took her away. She was devastated. General Hammond immediately took action. 

“Get a team down there! Now!” Everyone jumped, and soon all that remained were Sam and Jack. 

“Sorry, kid, guess we both lost a friend today. You Max, me Daniel.” Cassie looked up, and shook her head. 

“Daniel’s not dead.” And Jack was gone too, to kill Heru’Er. Cassie started to sob quietly again, and then a thought entered her head, and she didn’t think it. ‘No, Jack, it’s me Tarzan, you Jane.........’ 

***** 

Teal’c was on the floor, spread-eagled 

“Traitor Jaffa! Will you serve me?” Teal’c, battered beyond all recognition, slowly nodded as much as he could. Heru’Er caught the slight movement. And then there was a knock on the door. 

“Excuse me, got a delivery for a brain-dead sycophant, and I’m not going anywhere until I get paid!” Heru’Er, confused, opened the door, to meet Jack’s fist, and he crumpled to the ground. 

“That was worth at least $1000.” Jack smiled, then looked at the mass destrustion in front of him. Three bodies. According to Cassie, only one was dead. He watched as Daniel was taken upstairs. Teal’c followed. He walked up to Max, who lay still. And then a thought entered his head too. ‘I am not Charlie’. He wondered what it meant. Then he realised what it was. Max wasn’t dead after all. She was giving him a piece of her mind, literally. He looked down at her, and put his hand to her neck. No pulse. Then he realised that she never had one in the first place. He looked at her again. Her eyes were open, and she was smiling. A thought came to him. 

“Take me to the infirmary, Jack, talking is too much effort.” He nodded and gently picked her up. As he was making his way to the infirmary among the rush, he cradled Max as he would a small child, and then he realised that she was over twenty times older than him. He waited for the sarcastic comment to come, but it never did. As he was in smelling distance of the anti-bacteria, she went completely limp in his arms. Then he heard a shout of, 

“He’s stable! Alright, let’s stitch him up!” That’s one, Jack thought. Now for this one. ‘I will not survive, but I will make another’. The thought ebbed away. He thought about what she said. And then he realised. 

***** 

He walked into the room, and suddenly she woke up again. There was Daniel, out on the bed, and Jack took up his usual vigil seat. Max moved to Frasier, and asked what was wrong with him, and to make it basic. 

“Well, the bullets-” 

“Bullets? Teal’c told me there was only one!” 

“No, he said that he said it was actually ‘he was shot’.” 

“Oh yeah.” 

“Well, they put a nick on his Aorta. That’s the main-” 

“Artery from the heart, yeah, I know.”Frasier raised an eyebrow, and continued on. 

“He was bleeding internally for a long while. Could’ve used that device of yours.” Max sighed and said, 

“Yeah, well, I tell ya, that wasn’t my fault. Heru’Er took it, and he smashed my leg, and yeah, that’s pretty much it. Acoording to Teal’c, anyway. I can’t remember anything, unfortunately.” 

“He’s in a coma. He lost so much blood, I’m certain that he’ll have permanent brain damage. I’ll have to have a talk with Colonel O’Neill about when he wants to pull the plug.” Max heard this and said, 

“NO!!!” All heads in the infirmary turned towards her, except Daniel. Max said, 

“Please, I am sorry. But a life is in line here. I wish I could do what I came here to, but I cannot. I am sorry. Please, is Kassandra here now?” 

“She’s in the brief room. Do you want to go up and see her?” Max nodded. And, right before everyone’s eyes, she was gone. 

***** 

Cassie wiped her eyes one more time. Her best friend was gone. She was alone again. Everything was wrong. Her face smeared with tears. And then she felt someone was behind her. She turned around slowly, and jumped when she saw the seeming apparition before her. Max. Max walked up to her, and they hugged. Cassie started to cry again. 

“I thought you were dead!” Max went stiff. 

“Max? Max?” Cassie drew back. Something was up. Max was looking at her shoes, a guilty, shamful look on her face. 

“Cas, I’m sorry. Daniel’s been shot and he’s going to die - you know that - I have to help him. But it means giving him my life energy. I won’t live. He has to live on. I don’t. He has a family in Washington, being questioned. I don’t all I’ve got is him and you. I’m sorry, Cas, but I think that it’ll be okay. I promise, you can have my new Walkman.” Cassie giggled, and sniffed again. Max looked at her. 

“Okay?” Kassandra wiped her eyes and sniffed again, and nodded. 

“’Kay. Bye Max. I’ll never forget you.” Max nodded. And she grabbed Kassandra’s hands, and they disappeared. 

***** 

They popped up again in the infirmary. Max said, 

“I have to do this. Bye, everybody. Bye Cas. Hey, Daniel”, she said to the form on the bed in front of her. She put her hand on her chest, and a small red light eminated from it. He hand glowed red, and she put it to Daniel’s chest. She bit her lip. The light transferred itself into Daniel. He awoke, and said, 

“Max?” 

“Yeah. Bye, Daniel........” She turned into a huge white ball of light, which floated into the air. A small piece detached itself from the rest, and floated down to Cassie’s hand. It solidified into a hard metal ball, no bigger than a marble. Cassie held it tight as the rest of the light exploded upwards into the heavens. Daniel murmered one word. 

“Valhalla.” The room returned to normal. Cassie walked over to Daniel. He peered at the ball, and came to the conclusion, 

“She gave her life for me.” Cassie nodded, and said, 

“Not all of it. She left me her heart.” Daniel nodded, and with a flurry of activity, all was returned to normal. 

***** 

Afterwards, almost the entire base held a party. Jack was up on the top of the mountain, with Daniel, stargazing. Daniel was just lying back, when Jack asked, 

“What did you mean when you said, ‘Valhillock’ or something, when Max disappeared in that ball of light thing?” Daniel smiled. 

“Valhalla. It’s the viking heaven. It was said, that when a Norse God died, that would be the Asgaard, they were taken by the Valkyries, warrior women on horses, to Valhalla. I think it means the hall of Kings. I guess that’s where Max went.” Jack stared up at the stars. 

“I wonder which one she is.........................................” 

The End

  


* * *

>   
> © July 26,1999 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp.  
> The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters  
> who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names,   
> titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television,   
> Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd.   
> Partnership.  
> This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and   
> solely meant for entertainment.   
> All other characters, the story idea and the story itself   
> are the sole property of the author.   
> 

* * *

>   
> My god, there it is, it nearly killed me. I want to thank Treasa for letting me use her computer in Dublin, and Wilma for being silly enough for inspiration. Thanks, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!! (should I add an award ceremony acceptance speech-like sniffle?)  
> 

* * *

  



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